Re-imagining Food: Youth and women rebuilding from Covid-19
“And the people stayed at home, and rested, some meditated, some met their shadows, and the people began to think differently.” Kitty O’Meara
In January 2019, I was among researchers and other agriculture sector stakeholders gathered at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture to discuss the theme of global digitisation of agriculture and food systems. Little did we know that this would become the focal point months down the line, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In retrospect, probably the greatest mistake that Forum participants made was not to take put their words to action. It’s almost as if we saw all the signs and were making the right moves but didn’t make them fast enough. We realised that the fourth industrial revolution is going to shape a big part of our lives. We also acknowledged that the digital revolution in agriculture is inevitable. Maybe we did not have the right capacity, or were building towards it but lacked the focus to act swiftly.
It is now clear that, going forward, we need to paint a vivid and practical picture of what digital agriculture and food systems in Africa should look like.
As we enter the fifth week of lockdown to flatten the curve for Covid-19 in South Africa, farming and agribusiness are crumbling. Normal business is closed. With the lack of transportation and general logistics, we are not in a position to access the market. Moreover, we have limited tools to ensure proper storage of perishable goods, spoilage and/or damage of existing stock has increased. Access to, and supply of food, has been severely disrupted, thus threatening food security for the majority.
Its not surprising that, fearing for imminent scarcity, citizens have begun to go to the streets to demand secure access to food and other basic needs.
Against this backdrop, how do we move our agriculture and food systems to e-commerce? How do we integrate the whole food chain to one Agri ICT process? How do we create a unified and sustainable e-market, and ensure that all stakeholders in the food chain are visible in this e-market?
Poor infrastructure and the lack of access to information are among some of the barriers in championing the digitisation of agriculture in Africa. The digital food revolution provides a unified platform where farmers and food chain stakeholders can share, among other knowledge:
- Tips on choosing the right fertilisers and other agricultural inputs
- Weather forecasts
- Market information
- Overall trends in the agribusiness and food trade to support planning and investment
By ensuring that they are part of a digital platform, every farmer and agripreneur can access the knowledge and support they require to answer the above points for their venture. If these do not exist, we need to create our own. Social media is one platform that can drive this. Creating hashtags and challenges are practical way to champion the digital revolution in agriculture, which can further help to educate the public and drive market sales.
Covid-19 has brought forth a new normal. We cannot wait and stall anymore. As women and youth of Africa, the digital revolution must become one of our priorities.
“And the people healed, and when the danger passed, the people joined together again and grieved their losses, and made new choices and dreamed new images and created new way to live and heal the earth fully.” Kitty O’Meara
Written by Nomfundo Zondi
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
